School me on home-defense (gun related).

[Superu]

Good points Spence.

No need for cussing, but valid points nonetheless regarding the climate of fear in which many of us find ourselves.

24 hr news channels that report every bad thing that happens anywhere in the world at any hour of the day just contribute to the paranoia that has gripped this nation.

Bad things happen. Criminals are out there. Odds are that most of us will never encounter them. And that's a good thing.

Some people feel better with the belief that they've done everything within their control to safeguard themselves and their loved ones. And for some people that includes owning firearms. Doesn't make them wrong or right, just as it doesn't make the person who chooses not to own them wrong or right.

It's just a matter of personal preference and I for one am glad we have the ability to make that choice. Would it be nice to have more options? Sure, but in my state it's illegal to own a stun gun. I can have a shotgun, pistol, revolver or rifle and use it to defend myself, but I can't have a stun gun for the same purpose! Talk about some dumb-@ss legislation. (I'm working on getting that one changed by the way as I believe I should have the right to own a stun gun if I choose.)

I've been relieved to see the overall tone of this thread has remained civil and hasn't needed to be closed down like others before it. Thanks to all who've contributed for keeping it civil. ExPo rocks! :26_7_2:

 

[kjp1969]

That being said, I am unwilling to allow the fear of a million-to-one situation dictate the way I live my life or control my decisions. Not to sidetrack too much, but this factor of fear is what our society seems to be driven by. Fear of losing your job. Fear of a terrorist attack. Fear of bears. Fear of child abduction. God damn it people...the world is really not that bad of a place.

***

Fear will tear you apart. If you're scared about somebody breaking into your house during the night, than you're probably scared about taking a walk at night to see the stars. If you REALLY live in a place as dangerous as some people here are suggesting, than move! There are still safe places in the country which still allows a good quality of living without being worried about who is going to try and break into your house, rape your wife, and steal your kids.

Wonderful summary of the world we live in and the state of society. I agree with the quoted portion completely.

But its no contradiction to be as level headed and realistic as you are and still have a coupla guns, just in case. :ylsmoke:

 

[goodtimes]

I live in Maine. Did I mention that earlier?

Doesn't matter where you live. Crime happens. Being prepared in the off chance that it happens to you *can* be the difference between life and death.

That being said, I am unwilling to allow the fear of a million-to-one situation dictate the way I live my life or control my decisions. Not to sidetrack too much, but this factor of fear is what our society seems to be driven by.

You shouldn't. The chances are low. Very low. That doesn't change the fact that bad things happen to good people. Don't confuse preparation with fear.

Sure, you can PUT yourself in a bad position by not taking the correct precautions, but for bad things to just happen by chance isn't something that has ever happened to me or anybody I know.

Consider yourself lucky. Bad things happen to people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Last week, a young woman went to work in a secure facility operated by Yale. By all accounts, it was a 'safe' building, in a 'safe' area operated by a 'safe' organization. If you follow the news at all, you already know she died at the hands of someone else inside the safe building. Did she "put" herself there? If by "put", you mean going to work...yes. What about the kids who died at the hands of the criminals at Columbine? Did they put themselves there? Or did were they in the wrong spot at the wrong time?

If on the other hand you're coming up with all of these stories and hypothetical situations just to justify owning a gun for the sole purpose of eventually having to blow somebody's brains out....well....

No one is trying to justify "blowing someones brains out". The discussion is about keeping yourself and your loved ones alive. If someone walks through my lighted yard, gets through my steel security door or through my closed and locked windows, gets past my pit bull, and poses a threat to the life or safety of someone in my house, I don't plan on asking him to please wait until the police arrive. I hope that they look at my house and decide that it doesn't look like a good target (due to lighting, proximity to other houses, dog, steel doors, locked windows, etc), and move on. Barring that, I'm going to hope that the police arrive and put a stop to the situation long before I am forced to defend myself. But if they don't, then I will do what I have to do to protect myself and any guests in my house.

Between the locks, the lights, the dog, and a baseball bat, I've got 2 minutes of time.

I certainly hope so. As you stated, that will stop 99.9% of the miscreants. Hopefully the police are faster than the other .1%.

-Good house security
-Cell Phone

It is all I'll ever have.

Draw the line where you feel it is appropriate -- after all, it *is* your decision, right? I hope you never have to deal with a thug crossing that line (where ever you draw it).

 

[02TahoeMD]

Just got caught up on the past couple days' worth of posts.....figured I would weigh in again.

First, and foremost, major kudos to Roseann for the way she handled the attempted B&E. Had the intruder stupidly continued to attempt his entry, I have no doubt she would have acquitted herself well and society had been rid of another dreg. And I would have said good riddance.

Second, you absolutely and positively can not rely upon police response to save you. There has even been a supreme court decision dictating that the police do not have to protect you, if they do not arrive in time to prevent you from coming to some gruesome, unfortunate demise, they are not liable.

I heard a talk show host here in MD once compare police response thusly:

Call Dominoes, order a pizza for delivery. Call the police for a call for service.

See who gets there first. I think you will be eating before you see a cruiser on your street.

Here in my county, which ranges from an cramped city like environment all the way up to rural county roads that dont have pavement or bridges over streams, response time to an emergency call for service can range from 5 minutes to 30 minutes.

When vermin are at your door, that is a long, long time.

Just an aside, seeing yet another stupid, moronic Brinks Security service commercial on TV while I am writing this. For those of you thinking that (a) a suspect will be immediately frightened by a sounding alarm (b) that Brinks will call you within seconds of an alarm being sounded (c) that the police will show up faster because Brinks dispatched them (see point above) - then you are incredibly naive. Horribly annoying commercials.

Third observation - I saw a suspect taken down with buckshot once. Definitive "K5" zone shot, all 8 pellets perfectly placed in the K5, and he was an active fighter after being hit. Had he not been removed from his firearm, I have no doubt he would have continued to dispense lead at us. It took him a while to expire, and up til just a couple minutes left he remained violently active, fighting with the medics.

If you ever are forced to defend yourself, be prepared to have to keep shooting even if the vermin goes down. Do not trust them to be down and out of action.

Fourth observation - for those that rely on shotguns for hunting and/or defense, look into getting a Knoxx Stock for it. These things work great and absorb recoil so well that you can shoot buckshot and slugs through your gun all day long with no sore shoulder. Love mine.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

How come everyone assumes that you want to be prepared out of 'fear'. I'm not in 'fear' of getting stuck, but I have a winch. I'm not in 'fear' of a home invasion, gut I have guns. I'm not living in 'fear' of a disaster yet I have food storage. I'm not in 'fear' of a earthquake yet I have insurance. Fear has not inspired my preperation to mitigate the damages of various situations... rather my inspiration to "Be Prepared" has. Those that bill preperation off as 'fear' are likely just afraid of having to be prepared. I envision these guys pounding their chests and make fun of the guys that are 'afraid of the dark' and brought flashlights along on a camping trip. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. Put your machismo aside and take it for face value rather than write it off as some fear induced paranoia which it is not.

Oh and until I consulted the Oracle (google) I would have assumed old Maine was like heaven the way ol' spency describes it. Course then I would have to move away from God's country and live in Maine BTW spency, your little heaven is #32 in rapes though unremittingly low in other areas of crime.

 

[SunTzuNephew]

I'm not in fear of my home burning down, but I both practice fire safety, and have fire extinguishers and smoke detectors.

Likewise, I don't live in fear of a home invasion, but I have security devices that include locks, lights, and firearms - and the training to use them.

I don't plan on dying any time soon but I have life insurance.

Smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, locks, and firearms are just other forms of insurance.

 

[spencyg]

BTW spency, your little heaven is #32 in rapes though unremittingly low in other areas of crime.

I can quite comfortably live with these numbers. As always Kurt, you are a wealth of information

Spence

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

I was going to chime in on the fallacy that it's fear that drives preparedness, but Kurt and several others took care of it.

Let's also keep in mind that in the vast majority of self-defense situations, the mere presence of the firearm is enough to control the situation, as happened with Roseann.

Cops don't carry sidearms to kill people; they carry them to control hostile situations. Only rarely is it necessary to fire the weapon. The same holds true for home defense. But certainly you need to be prepared to fire if the necessity arises. If you are not, as is the case with Spence, then obviously firearms are not the right answer for your home.

And . . . Brian. "Pit Bull?" Surely you were speaking theoretically, and not referring to that bundle of joy-to-the-world that is Cherokee?

 

[Nullifier]

Well I keep a Smith and Wesson .38 special w 4" barrel. It was my grand dads gun and if it was good enough for him for 50 years it's good enough for me. All the others are locked up. Well except for my wife's. She has a little Beretta .25 and knows how to use it lol!

Hope we never have to use them on somebody but if we do I will tell you now we will not be surprised with the way criminals are today.

 

[Cackalak Han]

Real World....Today.

My 19 year old son finally came back home after 7 months away. I had no idea where he was or if he was alive! I was getting No Sleep! He just decided to do this temporary teen run away thing. He would not respond to my calls. The only way I knew if he was alive is if I saw that he logged on to his MySpace. Thank God he Finally came Home!

He is back to living in my home now. Today, I took him out for lunch. While we were eating, he started getting threatening text messages. It seems he owes some punks money. They are now threatening to come over to "Dads House" to Fix him....!

I've been wanting a 12 Gauge home security shot gun for a long time. I stopped by Big 5 today to look at what they have. And I find that the big hold up on immediate security for your home is.... the $25 background check, 10 day waiting period! A lot of good that will do me right now! So Think Ahead!

So for now it's going to have to be all about perfect 9mm placement! And a quick 911 call first. I seriously hope I don't have to hurt anybody! I don't even want to incure the cost of my attorney to defend myself from the attack!

My Browning Hi Power is loaded and ready all the time anyway.

I envy you Arizona dudes! Maybe it's time for me to just go get my Arizona Drivers License and pick up the weapons of my choice!

Can you imagine how I am feeling in my own home right now as I type this?

Yikes. I hope the best for you and your son, and hopefully the texts are just threats and nothing more.

Side note: Another reason why I'll visit California, but never live there. Several years ago, I went to get my Rem 870. Few bucks and 15 minutes later, I was out the door with my shotgun. It's pretty much the same deal with the .357 coming in.

 

[Mc Taco]

Mark, I'm glad to hear he is home. Be safe.

 

[Superu]

Talk about machismo! "I'm not afraid, I'm prepared." The man without fear is a dangerous man and I would not want him by my side.

Fear can be described with different terms in relation to the degree of fear that is experienced. It varies from mild caution to extreme phobia and paranoia. Fear is related to a number of additional cognitive and emotional states including worry, anxiety, terror, horror, panic, and dread.

Just because someone has a healthy dose of fear in their mind, does not take away from the courage and bravery they may exhibit in a stress situation. IMHO, fear of the unknown can help one to forge a plan of preparedness, not detract from it.

Interesting to see how quickly this conversation turned when people's manhood seemed threatened. It's okay to be afraid sometimes, it's when we allow that fear to overwhelm us that we run into trouble. I think some of the most courageous people I've encountered on this forum have been those who've expressed their doubts, fears and concerns and sought out the help and guidance of others in spite of how appearing afraid may have made them look to someone else. You guys are way better than this kind of talk.

 

[DH2002]

If you have no fear why are you prepared. The point of prepardness is to help deal with the fear of a possible situation.

 

[computeruser]

For what it's worth, I had NO idea of how the criminal and drug-addled underclass operated and the risks they present to the rest of us until I started working with them in a professional capacity. I didn't grow up in or around that community, so I really knew little of it except what I saw on TV. I do know about it now, and what I learned and have seen has changed my perspective profoundly, even before the work-related death threats and occasional low-grade stalking started.

The truth is that wit and prevention will not protect you 100% of the time. Neither will keeping your home/office security well-layered, or having a pistol stuffed in a pricey horsehide holster. But ultimately, it's like safe sex - condom + the pill decreases the risk of unwanted side-effects of intercourse to a greater degree than either method alone.

Having had to resolve a situation with a gun a couple times before I reached 30 years of age, I can assure you that you cannot predict everything - when and how problems will occur, how they will resolve themselves, the effect of your wit and communication skills - and I can also assure you that trouble pops up in the most unexpected of places.

There are obvious extremes, and they can be found on both ends of the guns/no-guns spectrum. Find what you're comfortable with for yourself and your family, and be positive and supportive of others, even where their personal choices are different from yours. Ultimately, those of us who are among the "good people" need to look out for each other just a bit more than we do.

 

[spencyg]

He is back to living in my home now. Today, I took him out for lunch. While we were eating, he started getting threatening text messages. It seems he owes some punks money. They are now threatening to come over to "Dads House" to Fix him....!

.

Are you serious?? You would considering buying a gun to ward off people whom your son owes money?? How about this idea? Give your son the money to pay them back, dope slap him for borrowing money from thugs, and move on with life! Man...I guess I have less in common with people on ExPo than I thought....